In April last year, HIFIMAN officially released the strategic HIGHMALAYA DAC chip, and HIFIMAN models equipped with the op amp chip have also been launched. We have previously dissected the HM901R lossless Bluetooth player and the BlueMini R2R Bluetooth module in detail, and the HIFIMAN HM800 micro R2R DAC ear amplifier has received extremely high attention. At that time, we said that the HM800 is not particularly expensive, but its own market value and brand value are worth a book.
In fact, the price of 4,000 yuan is indeed not expensive for such a small and delicate R2R architecture metal earpiece (yes, we used "pieces" of this unit). Even with the flagship RE2000 PRO active headphones (an upgraded version of the former flagship topological diaphragm earbud RE2000), it is positioned as a "10,000-yuan level carry-on set". At that time, our evaluation was that if we consider the self-developed DAC (and ultra-miniaturization processing) of the HM800, its unique market significance and application value are very valuable.
Indeed, HIFIMAN has always been very firm in its own product development principles, "a good product that has identified the needs of the target user will always be exhaustive and perfect, but our requirements for a complete set of front-end and back-end systems are the limits of what can be done in each link." In addition, Dr. Bian Fang often plays with his heart, and it is completely reasonable to make some different existence in today's era of "core ism" - and now that HIFIMAN has its own DAC chip, it is rare to have a "proud and full of confidence".
Unlike the Bluetooth module of Bluemini R2R, which is also "small body and big energy", the HM800 carries the more popular "small tail" gameplay today - yes, HIFIMAN emphasizes that "HM800 is not a small tail, I am part of the earbuds", this calm confidence is of course based on sound quality confidence, but also based on the confidence of "making new rules".
It is now the spring of 2022, the southern rain is pouring, in the quiet of the night, with its own music world, fun and chic. And this new version of the HM800, naturally just like the "good rain" of the "knowing the season" created by the listening throbbing, the ability to pluck the heartstrings is not only "when spring is happening", but also "moisturizing and silent" - according to some gods in the audio industry, this is the realm.
Sure enough, this is indeed the beginning of a legend
We have stressed many times that when we treat the matter of "music listening", our traditional serious and even "temperamental" attitude in terms of equipment is: picking the quality of the front end (such as brick machine or ear amplifier), whether the audio source output is digital or analog, picking the quality of the wire, and even the power supply line that outputs the independent power amplifier (if any) is picky. But we've always said that if you're not a veteran, you don't really have to get too caught up in these things. Lightweight, easy to drive, playable, good compatibility, this is the essence of the music experience, "burning equipment" away from the original intention is really not interesting.
HIFIMAN has been precipitating in this market for so many years, and has always been very clear about the meaning and value of its existence, in the popular words of now, "what the people need, we will do." We stressed at the beginning that the ultra-miniature R2R DAC ear amplifier HM800 is really "very miniature". In particular, this new version of the HM800, as the smallest size R2R DAC ear amplifier currently on the market, under the three fingers, weighs less than 10g (not counting the wire), which is why we called it "piece" earlier. And it is this "piece" gadget that will make the music playback experience of mobile phones produce a subversive evolution.
Last year, we said that as an "independent Class A and B fully balanced amplifier", the role of the HM800 is to provide high-quality "restored audio texture" for a wider range of mobile phone applications, hifiMAN needs it to crush the ordinary "small tail" (or class D ear amplifier module) in terms of hearing and performance. So at that time, we called HM800 "the little tail that stirs people's hearts", and the buddies of HIFIMAN also had quite a few words, and always emphasized that "we are not a small tail", haha.
This existence that is different from the traditional "brick machine enthusiasts" is precisely the concrete performance of hifiman's differentiated market competition today. On the one hand, this tendency to be a purely enthusiast-level experience of the "booster" is given the element of extreme portability; on the other hand, more open compatibility with various backends, so that the traditional backend continues to play or even surpass its own performance, but also allows such objects to have a very good market prospects.
We know that in addition to a very small number of mobile phones with independent op amps, the vast majority of mobile phones for audio processing are achieved with the help of the overall processor platform computing power, although in the ears of ordinary users, the effect is not bad (the taste of rendering is very strong), but for players, the bottom noise of the mobile phone direct push, the sound is weak, and the problems of poor balance have to be faced. Over the years, the emergence of various "small tails" (decoding ear release lines) is to solve this problem as much as possible, including Meizu mobile phone manufacturers have also launched their own brand related products. But it is clear that the DAC of the R2R architecture makes the HM800 a completely different existence, which can be described as the difference between cloud and mud. More importantly, the HM800 is not simply by increasing thrust to achieve the ear amplification of the soundstage, its advantage is to minimize the taste of digital rendering, so that the sound is restored to the texture of high-quality sound sources, and shows stronger sound tension (especially the sound field, high-frequency dynamics, vocal density).
The other is the problem of power consumption. We have already said in great detail in the special topic of reporting ON THE NORMALAYA DAC, and we don't need to spend too much ink here. In short, this HYMALAYA DAC compared to AK4499, ES9038 and even PCM1704 and the like, the low power performance is impressive, and this advantage is huge and perceptible, belonging to the existence of the crushing level. In fact, in the past, if we used mobile phones to put themselves in the ears, either the thrust and power consumption were synchronized, and the mobile phone could not be consumed, or it simply could not be pushed, and there was a skill in the air. Thanks to the low power consumption of the HYMALAYA DAC, the HM800 is basically able to achieve the power consumption level of conventional decoding ear release lines, which is a decisive competitive advantage at present.
As a new version exists, the biggest change of the HM800, in addition to the increase in output power, is actually a richer setting in terms of interface. This time, HIFIMAN prepared three mainstream cables for the HM800, which can basically fit all headphones - 0.78mm pin, 0.75mm pin, MMCX coaxial. To say more, the input interface of the HM800 is Type-C, which can be compatible with mainstream mobile phones and players on the market.
"Spring is a good rain and moist sound"
Before officially entering the listening part, we first give the answer - in terms of subjective hearing, the new version of the HM800 is not significantly different from the previous HM800, in fact, for the HM800, excellent sound quality should indeed be a basic quality. Therefore, in order to more richly experience the pleasure that the product can bring in addition to the sound quality, we chose a few hundred yuan of more ordinary earplugs, rather than the sharp goods of THE HIPIMMAN RE2000 PRO. From another point of view, it can also show the quality of HM800 and the tolerance of the front end.
In the listening experience session, our audio source end uses the OPPO Find N mobile phone, which belongs to the category of the annual flagship, but there is no independent audio processing chip, which meets the needs of this article. Sound source, in order to be more in line with the actual scene and public habits, we choose the high bitrate audio of the members in QQ Music, and various types are involved.
The first is classical music, whether you have been interested in listening to classical music before, but anyone who is fortunate enough to have, even if it is a short time to have this level of product, I stubbornly believe that you must feel this link with your heart. The new version of the HM800 has a very good performance of the most obvious sense of sound space in classical music, even a listener who has no relevant audition experience can easily feel the depth and breadth of the stage of the music, and must be very surprised - such a small pronunciation unit in the ear, it will give people the feeling of being in a much larger space than being in a room.
You know, this is definitely not the slightest sense of falseness created by the various 3D sound effects that the public is more familiar with. Among them, you can especially feel the sweetness of the cello tone, you know that because the violin in the band will be more "ear-catching" because of the timbre frequency, if it is a pair of headphones that are not high enough, the performance of this part of the cello is usually easy to be ignored.
Further experience, HM800 can create a high-frequency extension of ordinary earbuds, and the sense of field release is also in place. The detail preservation of sound belongs to the category that is easier to bring "empty inspiration" to the listener. Editors who also auditioned together believe that the biggest difference from those audiophile headphones that often need a strong thrust is that since HIFIMAN's characterization of the HM800 is "to emphasize the portability, while maintaining maximum sound details, do their best to reduce the requirements for the output equipment."
Therefore, when listening to traditional rock music, it generally does not compress too much dynamic as modern rock, and it does not violently overdo it. Let's try Zhou Shen's "Dust with light" (SQ lossless) (the previous version of the HM800 also chose this song), and you can hear more valuable high-frequency details through the mobile phone output. You know, this kind of detail in the past only lossless or higher bitrate files can be shown, the high frequency of the mobile phone is actually not expected. The so-called "spring is good rain and silent" realm, this is it.
Of course, it is also because of the quality of the earbuds themselves, the overall lack of energy sense. Those rich and diffuse low-pitch details make the sound lighter and lighter, a bit like the illusion of electrostatic headphones, but not particularly real. My point is that if the HM800 is combined with earbuds within a thousand yuan, softer material is more suitable and can show more detail and quality of the record.
EF reviews
As in the previous version, the core of the new version of the HIFIMAN HM800 has not changed, so the sound texture has retained the original style. Its own collocation tolerance is very large, portability and aesthetic design to achieve an orderly balance, basically no regrets. Therefore, it has won two annual awards from the Japanese VGP (especially the VGP Technology Gold Award), which is also well deserved.
Again, the HM800's improved audio processing and frequency field creation, under the blessing of the R2R architecture's HYMALAYA DAC, does not belong to our "relish" reason at all, because that itself is what it should achieve. From this perspective, it also shows once again how competitive and discursive it is to have your own DAC, and you can more calmly match and price your own product line. In short, the late stage of the HM800 without mixing with digital flavor is a process of enjoyment most of the time. To put it more simply, the new version of the HM800 does not pick the mobile phone (sound source) does not pick the earplugs, they can complete the mission of the "concert hall" by themselves, which has been achieved on the old version of the HM800. Richer "detail evolution" is the core meaning of the new version of the HM800.
Again, the HM800, like the Bluemini R2R, will have a profound impact on the future hardware trends for personal hand-to-hand music experiences. For example, it perfectly interprets all the advantages of the R2R miniaturization architecture, dwarfing the recently popular decoding of the ear release line (of course, the former is much more expensive, and it would certainly be true if you had to emphasize "you get what you pay for", but our conclusion is based on pure experiential texture and high-order knowledge).